Drops vs. Eagles 'set reminders' for Cleveland Browns receiver Amari Cooper 'to focus'

PHILADELPHIA — Amari Cooper, like all great athletes, is something of a perfectionist.

The Browns receiver can be as hard on himself as he can be on any teammate. A fundamental error by Cooper, especially, can be a bridge too far.

So it wasn't a surprise Cooper wasn't exactly brimming with joy about his day Monday practicing against the Philadelphia Eagles. Not after he had multiple drops during the course of 11-on-11 drills while going against the Eagles' star-laden secondary.

"Yeah, I mean, obviously you got to catch every ball," Cooper said after the practice. "That's why they call it receivers, right? So obviously, yeah, I like to have those back, but that's why we are out here. That's why we practice, to get better. Never can get complacent. It always sets reminders for you to focus."

The focus starts with another chance Tuesday for Cooper to go against the Eagles, a team he grew to know quite well during his time with the Dallas Cowboys from 2018-21. He faced Philadelphia eight times in that span, averaging nearly five catches for 81.6 yards in those games.

It wasn't that Cooper's day was all bad. On the very first play in a one-on-one drill between the Browns receivers and Eagles secondary, he got the best of his defender for a long reception.

The work, at the end of the day, was what Cooper was taking away the most. Part of the reason for the joint practices is to provide elite players like him a opportunity to get the kind of good preseason workload they need, but can't necessarily get from the exhibition games or even their own training camp practices.

"It's good to go up against new faces," Cooper said. "I kind of see that sometimes, too. I'm going up against a (defensive back). I beat them on a route in practice a couple times throughout the week, but obviously we only have so many plays, so I have to keep running it on them, finding different ways to be creative and win as opposed to going up against a guy who I don't usually go up against to really get that feel of how it would be in the game when I'm going up against an opponent who I don't practice against."

Tuesday's practice will be the second of two for the Browns against the Eagles. It's will be the last day of real work for any of their starters or prime backups, with those players all getting the night off for Thursday's preseason game.

That makes Tuesday a big day for a number of Browns players. There will be several who likely won't practice because of certain injuries, including three — defensive end Myles Garrett (foot), cornerback Denzel Ward (illness) and right tackle Jack Conklin (head) — who left the field Monday.

Cooper, however, didn't sound like a player who wasn't going to be on the field. That's even though he missed a few days early in training camp while the Browns were in West Virginia due to what was called a "minor tweak."

"I mean, this is like a game," Cooper said. "Trust me. It's like a game, going up against these guys. (Eagles cornerback Darius) Slay, he's All-Pro. (Cornerback James) Bradberry has been a Pro Bowler, so it’s some of the best work you'll get."

There's also the work Cooper wants to continue to get with quarterback Deshaun Watson. While Watson targeted the multi-time Pro Bowler 39 times over the final six games, only 21 of those were completed for 368 yards and three touchdowns.

Part of that was due to the lack of an ability to get on the same page once Watson returned from an 11-game suspension. That occurred in Week 13, one week before Cooper sustained a core muscle injury that hampered him for the final five games before he had surgery on it in February with the Philadelphia-based Dr. William Meyers.

Cooper did not do almost any team drills through the offseason. However, starting with some July workouts in South Florida and now carrying into training camp, the receiver and quarterback are starting to find the same page.

"I like where our communication is," Cooper said. "Obviously I dropped a couple balls today. I like making my quarterback’s job easy as possible, and I look forward to growing on today and all the previous practice days. But by the time the season comes, that's why I go so hard. That's why I practice this hard. It’s why I grind. I just want to make his job easy."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Amari Cooper uses drops in Browns' practice with Eagles as reminder